


you'll feel the ghost (of some memories so warm)

by kissmesexybatman



Series: ties that bind [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 01:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7737925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissmesexybatman/pseuds/kissmesexybatman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce shares a Wayne family tradition with the Batkids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you'll feel the ghost (of some memories so warm)

**Author's Note:**

> In case you didn't know, the [Perseid meteor shower](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/science/perseid-meteor-shower-2016.html?_r=0) is peaking tomorrow and Friday (that's 8/11 and 8/12). If you can, I highly recommend getting yourself somewhere dark to watch it. 
> 
> Title from [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZdsmLgCVdU).

"I knew it," Jason declared from the backseat. "He's taking us out to the middle of nowhere to kill us."

"You and Drake are the only ones here who deserve death, Todd," Damian replied.

Bruce sighed behind the steering wheel. "Damian, your brothers do not deserve death. Jason, please stop insinuating I'm trying to kill you. That's disturbing."

"I'm feeling pretty disturbed."

"Are we there yet?" Tim asked. He had been awarded the front passenger seat after he threatened them all with a bout of motion sickness.

"Have I stopped the car yet?" Bruce replied mildly.

Tim groaned loudly. "No."

"Then there's your answer."

"Hey, Tim, can you turn on the radio?" Dick asked, poking his younger brother through the crack between the seat and the door.

Tim complied, leaning forward and fiddling with the dial. He stopped it on a pop station with a wicked grin.

There was a chorus of protests from Damian, Jason and Duke, even as Dick cheered.

"Seriously, Taylor Swift?" Duke moaned. "Come on, man. Have a heart."

Dick launched into the lyrics at top volume, dancing in his seat and occasionally knocking his shoulder against a grumpy Damian. In the backseat, Cass was humming along, smiling at Dick as he turned to sing with her. Despite Jason's complaints, Bruce caught him mouthing along to the lyrics in the rear view mirror.

Bruce drove until the lights of Gotham had faded into the dark horizon behind them, listening to his children chat and bicker behind him. Dick kept singing at the top of his lungs, fending off Jason as he tried to give him wet willies from the backseat, and Duke had to physically restrain Damian from launching himself at Tim after he insulted his taste in music.

Finally, Bruce turned off the main road onto a side street. 

Tim looked over at him. “Are we there  _ now _ ?”

“Almost. Patience is a virtue, Tim.” He carefully navigated the car onto a dark, narrow gravel road.

“Oh, god, he really is going to kill us,” Jason said in a stage whisper.

“Jason,” Bruce sighed again.

Duke flinched back as a branch scraped his window. “This  _ is _ some horror movie bullshit.”

"Language."

“Where are we going, Bruce?” Dick asked, peering into the blackness.

“Well,” Bruce carefully navigated the car around a weed-filled pothole, “the Perseid meteor shower is peaking tonight.”

There was silence in the car for a few seconds. “Are you being serious?” Jason asked.

“Why would I lie about that?”

“I don’t know, it was just…”

“Unexpected,” Tim offered.

“Yeah.”

Bruce stopped the car at the edge of a field. “When I was young, my father used to bring me out here every year to watch the meteor shower,” he explained, turning to see his children all watching him. “I haven’t been in a while now, so I thought I would bring you all with me.” He climbed out and walked around to the back of the car.

“We’re going to get axe-murdered,” Jason grumbled, crawling over the middle seat row after Cass.

“We are not going to get axe-murdered,” Bruce’s voice drifted from the open trunk, slightly exasperated.

Tim nudged Jason as they stood outside the car and looked around at the pitch-black undergrowth surrounding them. “If a bear tries to eat us, I vote we throw it Damian first.”

“I heard that!” Damian yelled from the other side of the car.

“No one is getting eaten by a bear. Just come take these blankets.” Bruce was clearly running out of patience.

He handed Tim a thermos, saying, “You hold on to that” as he piled Dick and Jason’s arms with blankets. Damian and Cass were stomping a circle of grass flat, Duke lighting the area up with the flashlight on his phone.

Jason nodded at the thermos as they moved towards Damian and Cass’s clearing. “What is that?”

Bruce glanced at it. “Hot cocoa.”

Jason snorted.

“What’s so funny?”

“I honestly never thought I would hear the Batman say the words ‘hot cocoa.’”

Even in the darkness, they could see Bruce’s faint grin. “Hot cocoa,” he growled in his Batman voice.

His four oldest sons lost it, howling with laughter. Damian stood with his arms crossed, biting back a smile, as Cass beamed.

Bruce spread the blanket he was carrying out on the grass and sat down in the center. Damian settled to his right side and Cass on the left. Tim flopped down next to Cass, passing her one of Jason’s blankets. Duke sat next to Damian. Dick and Jason seated themselves on Tim’s other side, Dick reaching over to ruffle Tim’s hair and steal the thermos.

“Ooh,” Cass gasped, her eyes on the sky.

Bruce looked up. “Did you see one?”

“Yes. It was pretty.”

Dick yelped as Jason pointed excitedly and almost whacked him in the face. “There’s another one!”

“Make a wish,” Duke mumbled, head tipped back.

“I wish for us to not get axe-murdered.”

“You’re not supposed to wish out loud, Jay.”

“What’s that?” Tim asked, pointing.

Bruce leaned over Cass to follow his finger. “That’s the Milky Way. You’ve never seen it?”

Tim shook his head.

“Me either.”

“Neither have I. Where is it?” Tim showed Jason as Damian gestured at it for Duke.

“It’s kind of just a smudge,” Jason said, sounding a little disappointed.

“It’s not all that dark out here,” Bruce mused. “There’s too much light pollution. Better than the city, though.”

“ _ Light pollution. _ ”

Tim snorted. “It’s a real thing, idiot.”

Jason smacked him on the shoulder.

“There’s another shooting star,” Dick said.

“Ah man, I missed it.”

“That’s what you get for hitting me.”

“Boys,” Bruce said warningly. He was starting to wish Alfred had come.

They settled down, eventually, pointing out meteors to each other and the occasional satellite. Cass curled into Bruce’s side, listening as he showed her some of the constellations he still knew from the nights he spent out here with his own father, and Tim told them some myths behind the different figures pictured in the stars. Duke and Damian were engrossed in a star map app, locating different planets and galaxies. It was quiet around them, save for the wind whispering through the grass every so often and the distant whistle of a train.

Bruce glanced down as he felt Damian slump against his side. He had fallen asleep sitting up. Cass and Tim were snuggled together and yawning, though Jason and Dick were still awake and chatting quietly. Duke had laid back at some point, still flicking through his phone.

He looked back up in time to see another meteor streak across the sky, and smiled. They would have to make this a tradition again.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is both dedicated to and inspired by my own father, who took me out to watch the stars every year. Thanks, Dad.
> 
> As always, I'd really appreciate it if y'all took the time to drop me a kudos or comment (or message on [tumblr](http://kissmesexybatman.tumblr.com/)) You guys are awesome, thanks for reading all these weird little bits I think up. 
> 
> On that note, actually, I AM working on a longer piece right now! It's gonna have plot and everything. If you're interested, stay tuned; I'll have that out as soon as I can. 
> 
> One last thing... please make sure you stargaze responsibly and don't trespass or put yourself in any danger. The majestic wonders of the universe we live in are truly awe-inspiring experiences, but it's not worth getting yourself in trouble for.


End file.
